VA Medical Center opening delayed until December

Job is more than 2 years behind schedule

After a long standoff over when the Orlando VA Medical Center would officially open, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the contractor for the new medical center have agreed on a date: December, more than two years later than promised.

The time frame is a shift for the government agency, which as recently as November had targeted an April opening.

The contractor, Brasfield & Gorrie, has been standing by the December date for the past year, spokeswoman Tracey Sibley said.

The region's 400,000 veterans have long awaited the 1.2 million-square-foot facility, which was originally scheduled to open in October 2012. Job costs have escalated to well beyond the $665 million Congress approved.

The hospital with its clinic is the centerpiece of the Lake Nona VA complex and accounts for about 80 percent of the project. Other VA facilities on the campus are open or are about to be.

The Community Living Center, the nursing-home portion of the complex, opened in December. The 120,000-square-foot center can house 120 residents, said VA spokesman Mike Strickler.

The 60-bed domiciliary, which will serve the region's homeless veterans, is scheduled to open next month, he said. Both centers are moving from Lake Baldwin.

Construction of the main hospital did not go as smoothly. The project has been hampered by an extraordinary number of change orders and poor communication.

B&G blames the slow progress on the "VA's incompetent administration, numerous design changes and failure to make crucial and timely decisions," the contractor said in a statement. The VA says the contractor has not had enough workers on the job to make appropriate progress.

Slow payments have also caused stress: "The financing of the project is putting a very large strain on our company," said Sibley. "Even so, we are making sure that our vendors and contractors are being paid."

"This construction project has been plagued by delays and cost overruns due to mismanagement from the start," said, U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Pensacola, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. "This latest setback is proof that sad trend will continue until the medical center opens."

U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, agreed.

"There has to be a better way for us to build these facilities so they get done on time and on budget and without the conflict we've had to go through. It's very frustrating, but the end is in sight. Let's hope they don't move the goal posts again."